Agaricus Targets Inflammation in IBD

OSLO, NorwayAn Agaricus blazei Murill extract (as AndoSan, from Immunopharma) decreasesvarious inflammatory markers in patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), according to a new study published in the January issue of the Scandinavian Journal of Immunology (2011;73(1):66-75).

Working off the prior findings showing this extract reduced blood cytokines after 12 days of supplementation in subjects with indigestion, researchers from Oslo University Hospital investigated the ability of AndoSan to exert similar effects on cytokines in patients with ulcerative colitis (UC) and Crohn's disease. They al so measured fecal calprotectin, a marker for IBD. Eleven patients with Crohns and 10 patients with UC consumed 60 ml/day of AndoSan for 12 days. Researchers drew blood from patients before and after six hours of lipopolysaccharide (LPS) stimulation ex vivo. They analyzed plasma and fecal calprotectin levels using ELISA and tested 17 cytokinesIL-2, IFN-, IL-12 (Th1), IL-4, IL-5, IL-13 (Th2), IL-7, IL-17, IL-1, IL-6, TNF-, IL-8, MIP-1, MCP-1, G-CSF, GM-CSF and IL-10using multiplex assay.

After 12 days of AndoSan supplementation, baseline plasma levels in UC patients were decreased 40 percent for MCP-1; in LPS-stimulated blood levels were reduced by 78 percent for MIP-1, 44 percent for IL-6, 41 percent for IL-1,  30 percent for IL-8, 29 percent for G-CSF, 18 percent for MCP-1 and 17 percent for GM-CSF. There were corresponding reductions in Crohns: IL-2 (100 percent), IL-17 (55 percent) and IL-8 (29 percent) and for IL-1 (35 percent), MIP-1 (30 percent), MCP-1 (22 percent), IL-8 (18 percent), IL-17 (17 percent) and G-CSF (14 percent), respectively. In addition, fecal calprotectin was reduced in the UC group.

Researchers concluded, Ingestion of an [Agaricus blazei Murill]-based medicinal mushroom by patients with IBD resulted in interesting anti-inflammatory effects as demonstrated by declined levels of pathogenic cytokines in blood and calprotectin in feces.